Refrigerator cabinet



Jan. 19, 19

J. KNIGHT 2,068 550 REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed June 19, 1935 Inventor: James L Knight,

10 7v 8.49 g HiZQZttorney.

Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiCE REFRIGERATOR CABINET James L. Knight, Erie, Pm, asslgnor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application June 19, 1935, Serial No. 27,363 7 Claims. (01. 62-89) My invention relates to refrigerator cabinets, compressor casing l2, a condenser l3, and an and trnfore partlsliilplfiigy to ainigimpzgved glillllnpajrtevaporatorI I 4 for cooling the refrigerated commen or use a re r era r ca e or partment a within the cabinet ill. The cabithel ptll lrpoiske of ilznailt ltainingtfood, 530%]asfbul2igl niiilsiflvfonstlgicted of inner and outer metal 5 an e e, a a empera ure s a e or e w ng t ermal insulation therebetween 5 preservation thereof, but higher than that withand connected about the door opening by strips in the main refrigerated compartment of the IS of heat insulating material. The door II is of cabinet. similar construction to that of the cabinet and linegrdterigthat food stlgfis maytpizglfifly bl; 13m; compriisezs1 ilbanertand Ciltel metal walls l6 and I1 serv necessary 0 mam a e ea c connec e y s rips of heat insulating ma- 10 of domestic refrigerators at a temperature so terial. 7 235855222 tii eti tis ffi tttiir it 2222 1.555 hfi tf the t t the iiil i t t c e, e evapora or is main e a a emp in a refrigeratol' Cabinet must be allowed perature sufficiently low for freezing the contents to warm before it is 1n condit1on for servin at of trays i9 arranged within the evaporator and 15 the table. A thermally nsulat auxlllaly for maintaining the air within the compartment timebezitzgzstz irt eesteem? r 3 le e b mg 00 erein. u er or e e placed withbe conducted into the compartment to maintain in the compartment m will be maintained at a 1t a f i p g fi e 35 2 g ggi temperature so low that it is difficult to spread 20 mam a me mce a 0 hen it is remo ed from the ref 'ger into a refrigerated cabinet varies greatly due to w In accordancg with my fgfi the Vanatior} of temperature the seasons of butter or similar articles of food at a tempera-- the year it Q Z i i :g fg' ture high enough to permit spreading thereof 23 5;? z i 322x3 when it is removed from the cabinet, by provid- 25 object 0 ng invention to provid e vgi thin a reganga-th-erma11y ins-mated auxiliary compart-ment frigerator cabinet a thermally insulated auxiliary ig 3 1 238 2: g g g fi g z g z compartment warmed by conduction of heat into the same and mvided with a device for varyi cabinet door, a catch 22 being provided to hold p mg the door 20 closed. A knob 23 is provided in 30 the amount of heat conducted thereto in order order to ad ust the temperature within the auxto malntam the auxlllary compartment at a term may compartment in a ma er hereinafter perature higher than that within the refrigerated flbed compartment and suitable for the storage of butt ti f th 35 ter or the like so that it will be in suitable con- 8 8 a my wmPart- 35 ment can clearly be seen in Fig. 2, where I have p t l gg zi ig ggg ig ag fg gszf my inven; shown the lnner and outer walls l6 and I! of the tion will become apparent as the following door ll connected by strips i8 and provided with scription proceeds, and the features of novelty Wermal msulatmn 24 thBIIebetWEeH- 40 which characterize my invention will be pointed wary compartmen? 25 formed by a metal 0 out with particularity in the claims annexed to liner 26 inserted wlthln the insulation 24 and seand forming a part of this Specification cured to the wall Hi. The metal liner 26 is se- For a better understanding of my invention, cured to the wall it and insulated therefrom by refer nce may be had t t accompanying draw a gasket 21 of rubber or other suitable material.

ing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective vi of The door 20 fits against the gasket 21 and thereby 45 household refrigerator provided with an auxili- 010595 the auxiliary pa e 5-, Since the ary compartment embodying my invention and liner 26 is inserted within the insulation 24, a mounted in the door thereof, and Fig. 2 is a portion 24a of the insulation between the liner enlarged sectional view of th auxiliary tand the outer wall It! is of substantially reduced ment arranged in the door of the refrigerator thickness- During hot W a n t e sum- 50 shown in Fig. 1. mer time, there will be sufiicient leakage of Referring now to the drawing, in Fig. 1 I have heat through the portion 24a of the insulation shown'a household refrigerator comprising a to maintain the temperature within the comcabinet I 0 having a door II and provided with partment 25 sufiiciently high that butter or the a refrigerating machine including a motor and like mar be preserved therein without undue 5 hardening. During the winter, however, when the temperature of the room may be kept as low as 70 F., it is desirable to increase the leakage f heat from the outside of the cabinet to the compartment 25. For this reason, I provide a heat conducting member 28 of suitable sheet metal, which is shown in Fig. 2, secured to the outer Wall ll and arranged in contact with the liner 26 of the compartment 25. The member 28 provides a heat conducting path between the wall I! and the liner 26 and greatly increases the flow of heat from the outside air to the compartment 25. The member 28 is provided with slots 29 and is slidably mounted on wall H by rivets 30 engaging the slots 29 and holding the member 28 in good heat exchange relation with the wall H. In order to shift the position of the member 28, so that direct contact between the wall I! and the liner 26 may be broken during hot weather, I provide a compression spring 3| mounted between a lug 32 secured to the wall l1 and a seat 33 on the member 28. This spring continually presses the member 28 downwardly against the end of a bell crank 34 operated by the knob 23, and tends to push the member 28 away from the liner 26. The bell crank 34 is pivoted at 35 to a lug 36 secured to the liner 26 and is secured to a shaft 3? of the knob 23 by a slot 38 and pin 39 connecting the bell crank to a block 43 threaded on the shaft 31. By turning the knob 23, the position of the bell crank is changed so that the end M thereof moves up or down as desired. When the crank 34 is downwardly turned in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 2, the spring 3| will force the heat conducting member 28 out of contact with the liner 26, thereby breaking the heat conducting connection between the Wall E! and liner 26.

When it is desired to utilize the auxiliary compartment 25, a-vessel 42 containing a package 43 of butter or other similar food is placed within the compartment and the knob 23 is turned to the desired position. In the summer, when the temperature of the air surrounding the cabinet is high, the knob 23 is turned to a position such that the member 28 is not in contact with the liner 26, and there is a minimum leakage of heat into the auxiliary compartment 25. During the winter the knob 23 is turned to force the member 28 against the spring 4| so that a heat connecting path is established between the liner 26 and the outer wall 91, and there is a greater leakage of heat from the outer wall to the auxiliary compartment 25. During the operation of the refrigerator cabinet the compartment 25 will be maintained at a temperature intermediate that of the main refrigerated compartment of the refrigerator cabinet and that of the air surrounding the cabinet and suificient heat will be abstracted from the compartment 25 to properly preserve the butter, but there will be sufiicient leakage of heat into the compartment, so that the butter will be preserved at a temperature substantially higher than that of the refrigerated compartment and the consistency of the butter will be satisfactory for spreading.

While I have shown and described my invention in connection with a household refrigerator, other applications will readily be apparent to those skilled in the art. I do not, therefore, desire my invention to be limited to the particular construction illustrated, and I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet including a refrigerated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment within said refrigerated compartment, means providing a path for the conduction of heat between the exterior of said cabinet and said thermally" insulated compartment for maintaining the temperature within saidthermally insulated compartment above the temperature of said refrigerated compartment and within a temperature range suitable for preserving butter and the like, and means co-operating with said first mentioned means and changing the thermal conductivity of said path for varying the amount of heat transmitted to said thermally insulated compartment.

2. A refrigerator cabinet including a refrigerated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment within said refrigerated compartment, a metal liner for said thermally insulated compartment, and means including a metal heat conducting member engaging said metal liner and in heat exchange relation with the air surrounding said cabinet for conducting heat from the air surrounding said cabinet to said thermally insulated compartment and for maintaining the temperature in said thermally insulated compartment above the temperature within said refrigerated compartment and within a temperature range suitable for preserving butter and the like.

3. A refrigerator cabinet including a refrigerated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment within said refrigerated compartment, 2. metal liner for said thermally insulated compartment, means including a metal heat conducting member engaging said metal liner and in heat exchange relation with the air surrounding said cabinet for conducting heat to said thermally insulated compartment and for maintaining the temperature in said thermally insulated compartment above the temperature within said refrigerated compartment and within a temperature range suitable for preserving butter and the like, and means breaking the engagement between said heat conducting member and said inner liner for reducing the amount of heat conducted to said thermally insulated compartment.

4. A refrigerator cabinet having a refrigerated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment arranged within said refrigerated compartment, a metal liner for said thermally insulated compartment, means providing conduction of heat through the outer wall of said cabinet to said metal liner for maintaining the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment higher than that within said refrigerated compartment, and means varying the conduction of heat to said metal liner for varying the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment.

5. A refrigerator cabinet having inner and outer walls forming a refrigen'ated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment arranged within said refrigerated compartment, a metal liner for said thermally insulated compartment, means providing conduction of heat from said outer wall of said cabinet to said metal liner for maintaining the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment higher than that within said refrigerated compartment, and means including a heat conducting member movable into engagement with said outer wall and said metal liner for varying the conduction of heat to said metal liner and for varying the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment.

6. A refrigerator cabinet having inner and outer walls forming a refrigerated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment arranged within said refrigerated compartment, a metal liner for said thermally insulated compartment, means including a heat conducting member slidably mounted on said outer wall and connecting said inner liner and said outer wall for conducting heat from said outer wall to said thermally insulated compartment and for maintaining said thermally insulated compartment at a temperature higher than that within said refrigerated compartment, and manually operable means arranged to move said heat conducting member for breaking the heat conducting connection between said outer wall of said cabinet and said inner liner to decrease the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment.

7. A refrigerator cabinet having inner and outer walls forming a refrigerated compartment, a thermally insulated compartment arranged within said refrigerated compartment, a metal liner for said thermally insulated compartment, means including a heat conducting member for providing a heat conducting path between said metal liner and said outer wall, means moving said heat conducting member for breaking the connection between said inner liner and said outer wall of said cabinet to decrease the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment, and means moving said heat conducting member for establishing the connection between said inner liner and said outer wall to increase the temperature within said thermally insulated compartment.

JAMES L. KNIGHT. 

